- Option and Execution
- Being Positive When Batting
- How To Approach Your Batting
- Nervous Before Batting?
- Improving Technique
- Playing The Pull Shot
- Batting When You're Out of Form
Option and Execution
Have you ever got out to be greeted with the question ‘What on earth were you doing playing that shot?’ If so, then this bit of advice will be a Godsend for you.
Some of the time you bat, the ball bowled to you will dictate the kind of stroke you need to play but for the majority of your innings, you will have choices available to you as to the shots you play. These I will call your OPTIONS.
EXECUTION is the manner in which your carry out the stroke – leaning forward, keeping your head still, getting your foot to the pitch etc. This is purely technical stuff.
The essential part here is to realise that the OPTION YOU TAKE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE EXECUTION OF THE STROKE. Here’s an example. In the 24th over, the opposition bring an off spinner on who lands the ball consistently in the same area. He keeps the field up and you sense that your team needs to move the scoring rate forward a bit whilst knowing that you are good at using your feet. You decide to take the option of coming down the wicket to hit him over the top. Regardless of whether the ball flies into the sightscreen or is drilled straight to mid off, your decision making process cannot be faulted and you should not be criticised if it fails to come off – we’re all human after all and even the best players make mistakes of execution.
Another example would be this. A few overs later, you’ve moved the scoring rate to a healthy 6 runs an over which is more than adequate for the game situation. The fielding captain brings on an occasional leg spinner to bowl round the wicket into the rough with men scattered all round the boundary. He is incredibly inconsistent landing balls all over the place but spinning it hugely, particularly with his standard leg break. Despite the amount of easy runs on offer, you decide to take the option of coming down the wicket to hit him for 6 over deep midwicket and end up being stumped by 3 yards.
Even if you’d executed the stroke perfectly was this a good option? Did you need to do it? Here you should quite rightly be criticised for poor batting and throwing away your wicket without thinking about your innings. Learn to choose good options when you bat based on the situation you find yourself in. There are a number of different scenarios to think through – often when you’re facing spin and find yourself tied down – when choosing good options:
- What does the situation of the game require?
- Do I need to take a calculated risk to get my innings going?
- What possible stroke options are available to me?
- Which of them do I play well?
Other factors might be more specific:
- Is the keeper standing up or back?
- How big a boundary is it?
- Have we got the required rate from this over?
- How many overs has their best bowler got left before we can find easier pickings from the change bowlers?
- What players do we have to come in the batting order? If they’re big hitters perhaps we can launch an assault in the last 5 overs to make the target.
There are many factors to evaluate when managing your innings but make no mistake the best players in the world put a great deal of mental effort into deciding how they’re going to play and what options they choose when they bat – watch Shivnarine Chanderpaul or Kevin Pietersen for a session and you’ll see what I mean.
Talking of KP, some people might criticise him for getting out playing the reverse sweep/switch hit. Why? He plays it better then anyone in the world and against bowlers packing the leg side field with no one behind square on the off side he is assured of at least 4 runs if he makes good contact. Answer the 2 following questions. Does Pietersen play the switch hit well? Absolutely – he’s the best in the world at it. Does he practice the stroke making it more likely he’ll execute it well? You bet he does, hour upon hour in the nets until he plays it as well as he possibly can.
Technical improvements can always be made in your batting through repetition and practice but if you can learn to compile your innings choosing the right options both in the strokes you play and the situation in the match that you play them, you’ll be a far more successful batsman.
Wello - January 2009
